a small delay

Between keeping me, my bicycle, and my clothes clean, upright, and moving along, I've realized there's not an awful lot of spare time. So given the choice of using that little spare time to write about my trip around Africa vs. experiencing more of Africa, I'm going with the latter. I'm keeping notes and will write a blog once the trip is over, but for now you can keep up with the trip here!

looking ahead

Many years have passed since my last blog entry here. And they have included a few other bicycling adventures, including the very lovely Pacific coast highway, a nice trip from Inverness to Glasgow in Scotland, and a few weeks cycling through Vietnam and Cambodia.

Inside a tree on the bicycle trip down the Pacific coast highway

And this journey called life has taken me for some interesting turns. After a few years working in consulting to London and brief period in South Africa, I accepted a role with The Gates Foundation working on polio eradication in Nigeria. Here are a few photos from that time...

Holding a baby being immunized against polio with oral polio vaccine

This story's a bit longer, but the gist of it is that I had the great honor of receiving a traditional title from the Emir of Kaltungo... which I did not appreciate until the day involved wearing a cape and riding a horse

... and more photos and background on the polio work in Nigeria here. It's been an incredible experience, but all good things must come to an end, and I'll be moving on from that role shortly.

So this seemed like a good time to revisit the bucket list goals I set my sights on in my previous post. Believe it or not, I did manage to drag myself 26.2 miles! It wasn't speedy, and it wasn't pretty, and I sure as anything will not do it again... but it was an incredible experience. The moment I remember most was seeing a group of firemen all sitting on the top of their truck that they'd parked along the course to cheer for the runners. And it was so extraordinary that these actual heroes were cheering for us as though we were the heroes. It was an emotional and amazing experience.

Surviving a marathon

I'm still working on the languages and scuba diving, but I'm turning my attention next to the bicycle goals: bicycling the Tour de France route, and bicycling across the (non-cold!) continents.

I've signed up three years now to bicycle the Tour de France route with a charity called The William Wates Foundation. Unfortunately, my body had other ideas for me (which it seems to have the habit of doing more and more the older I get!). The first year, my hip decided it needed replacing (long story... due to a disorder with the way it developed... I knew a hip replacement was coming for some time, but didn't know it would be quite so soon!). And the second year, my knee had a bit of a melt down, and the meniscal allograft which had been transplanted into my knee 15 years ago had worn down and required replacement. So, as they say, third time is the charm, and 2017 is the year I plan to bicycle the Tour de France route.

I also decided to chip away on the continent goal and do some bicycling in my home for the last several years: Africa. In February, I'm going to begin bicycling with a tour group from Nairobi, and see how far the old body allows me to get. Hopefully all the way to Cape Town with the group, but I've just signed up for the first leg of the trip now and will see what the knee and hip think about the situation.

They truly were not joking when people said it's all downhill from thirty. Here's what I was up to for my 30th birthday...

Half Iron Man in South Africa

... and on my 31st birthday, I was on crutches recovering from a hip replacement! Today is incidentally another (to remain unspecified!) birthday. So, while it seems you can't stop yourself from aging, I'm hoping to demonstrate that that doesn't have to stop you from adventuring. Wish me luck! And let us also hope that I don't do this!